How can I install the latest nvidia video drivers on my 64-bit ubuntu linux 10.04 system? I believe I need to do this to continue developing a 3D graphics engine that I put aside for several months and am now returning to.

I just installed the fresh ubuntu system and when I try to compile my previously working code, it seems to find several things missing (including GL headers and libraries) that are probably installed by the nvidia driver.

I tried to install the driver, but I can't seem to get into an appropriate console "level". I tried entering via grub "recovery mode", but the nvidia installer didn't like that because the "level" was too low (1). I tried "telinit 3" in a terminal window on the desktop but that did nothing.

After I did that, I looked in the /etc/apt/sources.list file and found it had not changed. In other words, it did not contain the following two lines (which were given as the alternate method for ubuntu before the 9.10 release.

So I also added the above two files to the /etc/apt/sources.list file and executed the update.

I didn't seem to get any errors, but everything happened much to quickly to have installed all that software. Therefore, I suspect I need to take other actions too (not described on the website as far as I can tell) --- but I have no idea what those actions might be.

Can you tell me what else I need to do... to get the latest-and-greatest of these installed:
nvidia driver and all the development headers, [shared] libraries and utilities)
XWindows (including xlib headers, [shared] libraries and utilities)
OpenGL (including gl.h, glx.h, glext.h, glxext.h, etc)

I also didn't understand your comment about just installing the nvidia driver but not the XWindows stuff and not getting updates.

Can you explain more fully? And do these processes avoid the need for me to get into single user console/terminal mode to install the nvidia driver and related headers/libraries/utilities?

Also, how do I even know which "brand" of XWindows server I have on my system? It is my understanding that some of them are much slower than others, and not very capable of supporting the speed the nvidia drivers are capable of.

LATER: Oh, when I execute "Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center" I see an entry in the left pane called "X Updates", which is probably due to the steps I took. In the right pane are the packages in that "package set" (or whatever those PPA thingies are called). It appears to me that I need to select the following two items:

I didn't deselect/uninstall anything, but I did select/install the two (?or three?) that I mentioned above (the "nvidia-current..." items).

Is this going to get all the latest and greatest Xlib and OpenGL headers, [shared] libraries and utilities installed too? I need the latest versions of these because I'm developing a high-performance 3D graphics engine/server, and I need (at least) OpenGL 3.20 support... and soon OpenGL 4.10 support.

After I rebooted, I found and ran an nvidia application... which said the driver is still 173.xxx, not the new 256.xxx version I supposedly installed. Oops! Now, what did I do wrong?

Thanks in advance for helping me understand what the yonk I'm doing... or should be doing.

Last edited by bootstrap; 08-25-10 at 09:05 PM.
Reason: add more information and steps

Make sure it's activated in the "Hardware Drivers" and then just reboot.

Where is "hardware drivers"? When I searched for that term in "Ubuntu Software Center", it displayed something called "jockey" (and lots more apps) and asked whether I want to install it. Is this what you mean?

Woops, I guess not. I found "Hardware Drivers" under another desktop menu. But when I selected that, it only showed the old 173 driver, plus another one called "current" (with 173 being marked active/installed). However, that entry gave no indication what version it corresponded to (not very helpful). Fortunately, after I selected it and rebooted, I appear to have the new driver working. Thanks!

The main reason I need to install a new nvidia video driver is to get all the xlib, GL and GLX include files and [shared] library files installed on the computer... with the appropriate names in the appropriate directories so the OpenGL application I am developing can include .h files and link to the necessary [shared] library files.

No matter which way I install the nvidia drivers via the kind folks who package these things up, the driver seems to install, but the include files and [shared] library files are:
- not installed, and/or
- not installed in the appropriate directories, and/or
- not assigned appropriate filenames (by the creation of symbolic links, presumably)

Therefore, I either need to have an complete/exhaustive description of how to get these packages to "finish the job"... or complete/exhaustive description of how to find and install all the include/library files and create all the symlinks myself... or just freaking install the damn driver that nvidia provides (and hope/assume the nvidia installer creates the files, puts them where they belong, and creates the appropriate symlinks).

Do I understand everything I say above correctly?

After all the kind tips I've gotten that suggest I adopt these 3rd party packages, I wonder whether the nvidia installer might be easier to get fully working in my situation - which requires more than just getting the driver to work (which those 3rd party packages do).

Am I right? If so, I am stuck at the point where the nvidia installer documentation (a set of HTML files) says I need (or may need) to install these packages so the installer can do everything it needs to: kernel-source, kernel-headers, kernel-devel.

Now, I searched for these names in the "Ubuntu Software Center" application, but the matches appear to be totally wrong. So what's the deal? Am I supposed to know which of several other package installers to run (that understand those names)? apt-get? synaptic? yum? other?

So my questions are:
#1: How do I find out whether these packages are already installed?
#2: With which application should I attempt to download and install these packages?
#3: Do I need to add something to my "/etc/apt/sources.list" file (or some other equivalent)?
#4: Is there anywhere described what symlinks of what names in which directories need to be created?
#5: Is #4 even necessary if I install the driver via the nvidia installer (I'm guessing it does this work)?
#6: Why on earth do these 3rd party packages (which are very convenient) not "do the whole job"?

PS: The currently installed driver is 195.36.24 which is probably recent enough (for now) if I could somehow get all the include and [shared] library files installed - and all required symlinks created.